Abstract

Traps responsible for negative bias temperature instability(NBTI) in a nitrided submicron n-type metal-oxide-semiconductorfield effect transistor(nMOSFET) were investigated in an atomic scale. By spin dependent transport, we could observe interfacial -centers distinguishably and show that NBTI occurs mainly through an increase in -center rather than -center. This can be explained in terms of the atomic bonding configuration between silicon, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms.